1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of angioplasty and in particular, to new and improved catheters for performing balloon angioplasty procedures on blood vessels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Angioplasty has gained wide acceptance in recent years as an efficient and effective method for treating vascular diseases. Angioplasty is widely used in the treatment of stenosis within the coronary arteries, although it has been used for the treatment of stenosis in other areas of the vascular system.
The most widely used method of angioplasty makes use of a dilatation catheter which has an inflatable balloon member at a distal end and an inner lumen for acceptance of a guide wire (or only called an "over-the-wire catheter"). The guide wire is typically about 175 cm in length, and is threaded through the vascular system by tracking radiopaque markers contained at a distal tip of the guide wire, which are monitored on an x-ray fluoroscope. Once the guide wire is positioned, the dilatation catheter is pushed along the guide wire until its balloon member is across the stenosis. The balloon member is subsequently inflated with liquid, exerting pressure radially and outwardly against the stenosis, causing the artery wall to stretch and re-establishing an acceptable blood flow through the artery.
An area of stenosis is normally transparent to x-ray fluoroscope viewing, but can be seen by a periodic injection of dye into the artery. This periodic injection allows a limited time fluoroscopic viewing of the restricted artery flow caused by the stenosis, allowing the guide wire to be positioned across the stenosis and into a distal artery, which provides support for the dilatation catheter. However, because dye injections cause surgical complications, physicians disfavor injecting additional dye into the artery in order to properly position the balloon member. On the other hand, physicians want to complete the operation as quickly as possible in order to minimize radiation exposure to the patient and staff. Thus, physicians do not want to spend a large amount of time trying to locate the stenosis. Therefore, there is a need for a method to properly mark a stenosis in order to timely position the balloon member without injecting additional dye.
In addition to properly positioning a first balloon member across the stenosis, some surgical procedures require the use of more than one dilatation catheter. For example, the balloon member of the first catheter might have a profile that is too large to fit into the stenosis. Using an extendable or exchange (300 cm in length) guide wire, a physician can exchange the first balloon member with a dilatation catheter having a second balloon member with a smaller profile, while attempting to maintain the guide wire in its position across the stenosis.
A dilatation catheter normally contains one or more markers to allow its balloon member to be located on a fluoroscope. To position the balloon member without the use of additional dye, a method must be used whereby the stenosis can be pinpointed while the stenosis is temporarily displayed. One method is to use a grease pen to mark the location of the stenosis on the screen of the fluoroscope. Another method is to take a picture of the fluoroscope screen while the stenosis can be seen and then use the picture to later position the balloon member across the stenosis.
As can be readily appreciated, these methods of positioning a balloon member are generally time consuming and relatively inaccurate. Also, they require the patient to remain perfectly still in order to have the location marked on the screen correspond to the actual location of the stenosis. Keeping the patient still is especially difficult when a second dilatation catheter is needed to perform the procedure because of the additional time required to complete the catheter exchange on the guide wire. Therefore, there is a need for an accurate method of positioning a balloon member of an over-the-wire dilatation catheter across a stenosis in a timely fashion and without injecting additional dye to locate the stenosis.